Little is known of what happens here….Sci-Fi Workshop 5th March 2014

Science Fiction tends to be the genre which most of us profess to know little about. Well, after attending the club’s own Fiona Aitchison’s brilliant Sci-fi workshop we can’t say that anymore.

Fiona got us off to a flying start by asking us to write down all the Science Fiction themed movies and television programmes we’d watched since childhood. An impressive list materialised from Star Trek to Star Wars to Metal Mickey. And don’t forget Survivors, Lost in Space, Blakes 7 and the Clangers to name but a few – proving to all us big Sci-fi fearties that we knew a lot more about the subject than we first thought.

Our imaginations now fired Fiona pointed out the importance of making a Science Fiction story plausible. We then considered –

Setting – On the moon, another planet, a spaceship, a scientific lab or somewhere more down to earth?

Characters- Are they aliens, people with special powers, robots, time travellers, survivors?

Time – Is it the future, present day, in the past (Steampunk anyone?) or an alternative reality?

An excellent tip Fiona gave us to help devise a story was to ask ourselves What if? As in What if tomorrow the world had no cats? The answers flowed – an epidemic of mice and rats, the collapse of the cat food industry, ruined crops, famine, rise in bird population, lots of lonely people, no-one to co-star with budgies on TV adverts!

She also explained how incorporating scientific facts can give Sci-Fi stories a touch of authenticity. Splitting us into smaller groups, we were provided with prompts – exciting and innovative examples of “real” technology – my group had Google Goggles- and suggested we put our heads together and consider how the technology could evolve and take it into the future. We then drafted the synopsis of a story.

Soon we were listening to tales of clones, brain implants, androids, age reversal, spaceships, etc.

Here I believe I was abducted by aliens, as my notes stop abruptly and my memory of the rest of the evening has been erased.

But I do remember a fun and interesting evening which definitely sparked our imaginations. Personally I was inspired to write a short story in a genre I had never attempted before. And I enjoyed it.